Wireless communications apparatus and methods

1. A method of transmitting data by a communications device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of service data units including a first service data unit and a second service data unit at a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) service access point (SAP) according to one or more quality of service (QOS) flows, each of the one or more QoS flows defining a QoS for data received from the service data units;

determining whether the first service data unit has a relative priority higher than a relative priority of the second service data unit;

mapping the service data units received according to the one or more QoS flows on to one or more radio bearers, each radio bearer of the one or more radio bearers defined by a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity within a PDCP layer;

forming the service data units into protocol data units (PDUs) for transmission via the radio bearer to which the corresponding QoS flow is mapped; and

transmitting the PDUs via the corresponding radio bearer according to the mapping and in an order of PDCP sequence number.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, in a case that the determining indicates that the first service data unit has the relative priority higher than that of the second service data unit:

assigning a first PDCP sequence number to the first service data unit; and

assigning a second PDCP sequence number to the second service data unit, the first PDCP sequence number being higher than the second PDCP sequence number.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:

compressing a header associated with the first service data unit and a header associated with the second service data unit in accordance with the assigned first and second PDCP sequence numbers.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

starting a first discard timer associated with the first service data unit, the first discard timer to expire after a first timer duration; and

starting a second discard timer associated with the second service data unit, the second discard timer to expire after a second timer duration, wherein

the second timer duration is longer than the first timer duration.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second service data units are associated with a first QoS flow mapped to a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB).

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein

the first DRB is associated with a first DRB priority, and

the method further comprises, in response to at least one of determining that the relative priority of the second service data is higher than the relative priority of the first service data unit, and a congestion threshold being met, associating the first QoS flow with a second DRB, the second DRB associated with a second DRB priority higher than the first DRB priority.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the associating comprises initiating a QoS flow relocation procedure.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a SDAP PDU, the SDAP PDU comprising the second service data unit and an SDAP header, wherein

the SDAP header comprises an indication that the second service data unit meets one or more criteria associated with the higher relative priority.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

changing, at a radio link control (RLC) protocol entity, an order of transmission via the radio bearer of the PDUs formed from the first and second service data units.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

changing, at the PDCP entity defining the one of the radio bearers, an order of transmission of the PDUs formed from the first and second service data units.

11. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first PDCP sequence number is a next sequence number to be transmitted.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, in a case that the determining indicates that the first service data unit does not have the relative priority higher than that of the second data unit:

assigning a first PDCP sequence number to the second service data unit; and

assigning a second PDCP sequence number to the first data unit.

13. A communications device for transmitting data via a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit signals and to receive signals on a wireless access interface of the wireless communications network; and

processing circuitry configured to control the transceiver to transmit the signals representing the data, wherein

the processing circuitry is further configured with the transceiver to:

receive a plurality of service data units including a first service data unit and a second service data unit at a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) service access point (SAP) according to one or more quality of service (QOS) flows, each of the one or more QoS flows defining a QoS for data received from the service data units;

determine whether the first service data unit has a relative priority higher than a relative priority of the second service data unit;

map the service data units received according to the one or more QoS flows on to one or more radio bearers, each radio bearer of the one or more radio bearers defined by a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity within a PDCP layer;

form the service data units into protocol data units (PDUs) for transmission via the radio bearer to which the corresponding QoS flow is mapped; and

transmit the PDUs via the corresponding radio bearer according to the mapping and in an order of PDCP sequence number.

14. Circuitry for a communications device for transmitting data via a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising:

transceiver circuitry configured to transmit signals and to receive signals on a wireless access interface of the wireless communications network; and

processing circuitry configured to control the transceiver circuitry to transmit the signals representing the data, wherein

the processing circuitry is further configured with the transceiver circuitry to:

receive a plurality of service data units including a first service data unit and a second service data unit at a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) service access point (SAP) according to one or more quality of service (QOS) flows, each of the one or more QoS flows defining a QoS for data received from the service data units;

determine whether the first service data unit has a relative priority higher than a relative priority of the second service data unit;

map the service data units received according to the one or more QoS flows on to one or more radio bearers, each radio bearer of the one or more radio bearers defined by a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity within a PDCP layer;

form the service data units into protocol data units (PDUs) for transmission via the radio bearer to which the corresponding QoS flow is mapped; and

transmit the PDUs via the corresponding radio bearer according to the mapping and in an order of PDCP sequence number.

15. The circuitry according to claim 14 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured with the transceiver circuitry to, in a case that the determining indicates that the first service data unit has the relative priority higher than that of the second service data unit:

assign a first PDCP sequence number to the first service data unit; and

assign a second PDCP sequence number to the second service data unit, the first PDCP sequence number being higher than the second PDCP sequence number.

16. The circuitry according to claim 15 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured with the transceiver circuitry to compress a header associated with the first service data unit and a header associated with the second service data unit in accordance with the assigned first and second PDCP sequence numbers.

17. The circuitry according to claim 14 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured with the transceiver circuitry to:

start a first discard timer associated with the first service data unit, the first discard timer to expire after a first timer duration; and

start a second discard timer associated with the second service data unit, the second discard timer to expire after a second timer duration, the second timer duration being longer than the first timer duration.

18. The circuitry according to claim 14 , wherein the first and second service data units are associated with a first QoS flow mapped to a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB).